


Love Can Float

by ExhaustedCommonSense



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Chuck Lives, Fanart Welcome, M/M, Merman Newt, Multi, Newt's mother isnt an opera singer, barely there newt/hermann, hints of raleigh/chuck/mako, shes a siren, somebody save me the pacific rim plot bunnies have attacked me, they wont leave me alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 01:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14581818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhaustedCommonSense/pseuds/ExhaustedCommonSense
Summary: When they can't get hold of their sons, most mothers assume there's a problem with the phone and wait.Newt's mother is not like other mothers: she decides the best thing to do is go and save him. Along the way she ends up saving someone else's son instead.





	Love Can Float

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Mermaid by Train.

Lava-Blood-Tail was worried.

For years she’d been getting messages from her son with warnings of where the Blue-Toxic-Tall’s were going to be; it was her as job as leader to pass on the information and ensure that her pod stayed safe away from the poison that the creatures used to pollute their home.

The warnings from Lizard-Small-Shock had kept her pod safe when many others were caught unaware, but his latest message had been to tell them that his land pod were going to attack the Deep-Wrong-Deadly and then his Shell-Warning had gone quiet.

A Shell-Warning would only go quiet if it was broken, and Lizard-Small-Shock had always been careful with his because it was their only way of communication. Lava-Blood-Tail knew in her heart that her son was in danger, but she had no way to track him without the Shell-Warning.

Deciding that she would have to do something reckless, she told Dark-Hidden-Fast to look after the pod and set off on her own towards the Deep-Wrong-Deadly. If Lizard-Small-Shock’s land pod was going to be there, she could follow them back to her son.

It was four long exhausting days of swimming before she got close enough to the Deep-Wrong-Deadly that her instincts were screaming at her to swim away. She could feel the movements of the Blue-Toxic-Tall’s and the Hard-Fight-Big’s further down, but she knew it wasn’t safe for her to get any closer.

A shockwave hit her, throwing her away from the Deep-Wrong-Deadly and sending her spinning through the water. A big white stone shot past her, but before she could get her bearings, a sudden tide pushed her back towards the fight. She shuddered in the deceptive stillness of the ocean; she was further away than she’d started, but too close to feel safe anymore.

The white stone had also been pushed back in the tide but was now floating slowly towards the surface. Lava-Blood-Tail watched it suspiciously, her tail ear-fins flicking in agitation as it stopped before the surface and began to sink again.

When nothing else happened, she summoned her courage and swam closer, watching carefully for any sudden movements. The stone had a clear section at one end that allowed her to see a man lying inside; he appeared to be asleep but he was bleeding from a head wound. As she watched, she noticed that water was beginning to build up inside the stone and realised that it was leaking.

Lizard-Small-Shock had told her that there were people inside the Hard-Fight-Big’s, but she’d never gotten close enough to one to see for herself. She knew the man must have been fighting the Blue-Toxic-Tall’s, which meant that he was part of her sons’ land pod; Lizard-Small-Shock would want her to help him.

Baring her teeth at the unconscious man, she swam underneath the stone and pushed it upwards. The stone reached the surface but began to sink again as soon as she stopped holding it up. Trilling a frustrated sound, she let it sink a little and peered through the clear patch: the water was still filling the stone.

Lava-Blood-Tail glared at the man, angry that her mission had been delayed by a Land-Swimmer who wasn’t even awake to help himself. She whistled to try wake him up, digging her fingers into the ridges around the clear patch to remain attached to the stone as it began to sink.

There was a popping noise as the stone broke under her fingers: she was left holding the clear patch of stone while the rest of it sunk even quicker as it filled with water. She let go of her part of the stone and dived towards the man.

She managed to grab a hold of him under his arms and used her tail to push against the stone until he was free. She didn’t hesitate before carrying him straight to the surface, knowing he wouldn’t last long under the water. Her gills sealed up once they breached the surface, allowing her lungs to switch to breathing air. Worryingly, the man remained unconscious, breathing shallowly with his head tipped back against her shoulder.

Above the water, she could see another white stone floating on the surface. It was quite far away, which meant that it must have floated up after the shockwave. Whistling sharply in annoyance, she swam backwards towards it; it was exhausting work trying to keep their heads above the water while propelling them along with her tail.

When they got there, she kept one arm around the man while she pushed her body up onto the floating bags surrounding the stone so that she could look inside. The stone was empty; the clear patch had been removed and the inside looked dry. Frowning in annoyance, she let her body sink back into the water, considering the best way of getting her passenger inside.

In the end, she twisted her tail and used all of her strength to flick them both into the air. She managed to get enough momentum that her back hit the top of the stone painfully, allowing her to balance the man over where the clear patch used to be. Hissing in frustration, she tugged at him until he was supported by the stone and wasn’t in any danger of sinking.

It took a lot less effort to slip back under water, taking a few deep breaths through her gills and stretching out her back to make sure that she hadn’t done too much damage. Once she was confident that she would be fine, she pushed her head back above the surface and looked around for some hint of how to get the man back to his pod.

From the surface, she could see a group of the Fly-Grab-Noise’s getting smaller in the distance and figured that her best shot would be to follow them. Using one of her sharp shells, she cut one of the weeds wrapped around the stone and used it to pull it along behind her as she swam. It was slow going as she had to keep checking the surface for the correct direction.

Eventually, she lost sight of the Fly-Grab-Noise’s, but by then she could see the lights of where they had gone. It was nightfall by the time she got to the land where the Fly-Grab-Noise was; it was a long strip of hard black land. She tied the weed to a hard stick that was attached to the land and pulled at it to make sure it was secure.

Satisfied that the man wouldn’t float off, she heaved her body up onto the stone and pulled at the mans neck. She knew Land-Swimmers wore plants over their bodies to keep them warm, and she would need something to get them to understand who she had brought with her. She used her sharp shell to make a small cut, making it bigger once she was sure that she wasn’t cutting into skin. Her shell stopped at the harder plant over his chest so she had to carefully cut around his neck.

Lava-Blood-Tail let out a happy trill when she caught sight of something shiny around the mans neck. Abandoning her shell in favour of her fingers, she tugged at the necklace until it was free of the plant and she could pull it over his head. Pleased at her own success, she put it over her own head for safe keeping.

From her perch on the stone, she took a deep breath and shuddered as her tail split into two: once the transformation was complete, she looked like any other Land-Swimmer, except that she still had a strip of scales running down her spine. Grimacing at the feel of her new legs, she used the stone to boost herself onto the land.

Her first few steps were more of an unsteady stumble, but she soon got into the rhythm of walking and got used to the pressure of the air pushing down at her. It wasn’t her first time on land; merpeople have to go on land to mate and mermaids had to give birth on land.

Lizard-Small-Shock’s father was one of the many merpeople who had actually decided to settle on land and she’d been happy to let him raise their son provided he came to the ocean to see her and learn their ways. She was too busy as leader of the pod to raise her son alone, and Lizard-Small-Shock was such a curious child that he settled better on land than in the ocean with her.

It didn’t take her too long to reach the outside of the cave and she soon found an opening after following the wall around. There were loud noises echoing through the dark cave; she thought that they sounded happy and hoped she wasn’t about to do something even more reckless by venturing in.

She wandered through the tunnels of the cave, avoiding where most of the noise was coming from on instinct. Eventually, she was discovered by a man who stopped at the sight of her and blushed a dark red.

“Holy fuck,” the man stared at her. “Where are your clothes?”

She stared back at him, tilting her head in confusion. She understood some of the Land-Swimmers language as Lizard-Small-Shock had thought it would be a good thing for her to learn, but she didn’t recognize any of the mans words.

“Are you okay?” The man approached her carefully. “Do you speak English? How did you even get in here?”

“Help,” she coughed at the rough texture of the word, so different from her own musical language. The man looked away when she brushed her dark hair aside, revealing her chest, so that she could untangle the necklace and lift it over her head. She held it out to him and shook it until he looked back at her. “Help.”

The man took the necklace and paled. “This is Chuck’s. How did you get this? Fuck, you don’t understand a word I’m saying do you?” He sighed and beckoned for her to follow him. “Come on, Herc will want to see you, and we should find you some clothes.”

Lava-Blood-Tail followed him down another tunnel, blinking in surprise when the man opened part of the wall to reveal a smaller cave. The man passed her a pile of the plant-type things that Land-Swimmers wore and then helped her into them when she didn’t make a move to put them on. The plants felt odd on her skin, but she accepted that it was part of their culture, and they did make her feel warmer.

Once she was covered up, the man led her back out into the tunnels until they reached another part of the wall that the man tapped his hand against before opening. There was water in this cave, but a strip of land allowed them to cross to where another man was standing.

“Tendo,” the man looked weary and sad. “What can I do for you?”

“I found this woman walking around the Dome,” the man she’d followed waved her forward. “She doesn’t seem to speak English. I found her completely naked except for this.” He handed over the necklace and she watched curiously as the other man also paled.

“Where did you get this?” The other man stood up straighter, staring at her with a steely glint in his eyes. “This was my sons. How did you get it?”

“Son,” she repeated, happy to recognise a word. “Yours. Son?” She reached forward and touched the necklace, making no move to take it back.

“Yes,” the man watched her. “My son.”

She grinned at him, revealing her sharp teeth. “Good. Help.”

“Help,” the man repeated, sounding hoarse like he was struggling to breath. “What do you mean ‘help’? He’s dead.”

“No,” she denied, beginning to understand what had happened. “No dead. Help.” She struggled for the right word. “Safe.”

She hadn’t considered when she’d found the man that his family might think he was dead. It was probably a cruel thing to do, but she suddenly knew exactly how she was going to make sure her own son was safe. The man’s father looked about ready to cry with frustration and hope and the other man was talking quietly to him.

“Safe,” she finally repeated with a nod once she’d remembered how to say what she wanted. “Trade, son yours.”

“You want to trade my son,” the father was quickly replacing all other emotions with anger.

“Trade,” she spoke quickly, hoping that he’d understand her reasoning as a fellow parent. “Trade son yours. Trade son mine. Son mine safe no.”

The man paused, shoving his anger to one side to try and understand her while the other man spoke up. “I think she wants to trade Chuck for her son.”

“But we don’t know who your son is,” the father’s voice held a desperate tone to it that pulled at her heart.

“Give son yours,” she sighed, accepting that she wasn’t going to be able to blackmail them with her limited language and relying on hoping that they would be in her debt. “Son mine safe. Promise.”

“If you give us my son,” the man spoke slowly. “I promise I’ll try to help your son. But we don’t know who he is.”

Nervously, aware that this was where it could all go wrong, Lava-Blood-Tail lifted the plant covering her chest until it was folded above her stomach and turned around to reveal the scales on her spine. “Son mine safe no.”

“Holy shit,” she heard one of the men step forward and spun around with her hands up, dropping the plant back down to cover her. “Whoa, hey, it’s okay. I just wanted a closer look.” The man held his own hands up.

“Let’s just get Chuck,” the father stepped towards the part of the cave that opened and gestured for her to come with him. “We’ll worry about another invasion later.”

The other man snorted out a laugh and followed them. She was led down a few different tunnels, each one causing her to twitch nervously at where they could be taking her. She was completely dependent on their goodwill and the hope that they wanted the man back more than they wanted to hurt her.

“Well,” the man looked around the tunnel. “This is where I found her.”

“Where now?” The father waved a hand around. “Where is my son?”

She hummed cautiously, looking around the tunnel. She knew that they wanted her to lead them back to where she’d come from, but she wasn’t completely sure she could find her way back. Deciding to trust her instincts and hope they led her back to the ocean, she set off walking and listened as the men followed her.

Thankfully, she had kept to the same tunnel all the way in, moving away from the noise in a way that was easy to replicate in reverse. She couldn’t stop the happy trill that she made when she found the opening and stepped outside, recognizing the place she’d entered.

“Son yours safe,” she grinned happily at the man, hurrying towards the water and pointing at the white stone that was still floating next to the land. It was a little worrying that the man was still unconscious, but she was hoping that they would be able to help him.

The father let out a shout and both men leant over the edge to pull the unconscious man onto the land. The father hugged him close and checked that he was breathing while the other man said something into a black stone that pulled out of somewhere. More people came out of the cave and came over to help them back inside.

Feeling a little lost, she followed the group back inside. She didn’t want to leave before making sure Lizard-Small-Shock was safe and she guessed the father of the man she’d saved would be the safest to stay with since she’d saved his son.

No one stopped her from following them into a white cave where hanging plants created private caves. The man was placed on one of the ledges and a man worked to remove his hard plant that was protecting his chest while a woman listened to his pulse and looked at his eyes.

“Thank you,” she turned to see that the father was stood next to her. “You saved my son.”

“Safe,” she agreed with a nod, reaching out to touch his hand. He tore his eyes away from his son to look at her. “Son mine not safe. Lost. Help.”

“I will,” the man looked serious. “If I can, I will help. What’s his name?”

“Name,” she repeated. “Name mine?” She warbled her own name hopefully, sighing when he stared at her in confusion. There was a noise from behind one of the plant walls that caused them both to look over.

“Newton!” Someone shouted from behind the plant. “Will you sit still!”

A second later, the plant was shoved to one side and Lizard-Small-Shock stumbled out from where it had been. A high keen came from her throat as she threw herself forward, nearly knocking them both to the ground as she ran into him.

“ _Lizard-Small-Shock,”_ she pulled him close for a hard hug before pushing him back so she could see him, desperately looking for injuries. “ _You’re hurt! I knew you were hurt! Your eye! And your head!_ ”

“ _I’m fine!_ ” Lizard-Small-Shock trilled back, eyes still wide with shock. “ _What are you doing here?_ ”

“ _Your Shell-Warning went quiet!_ ” She cried.

“Shit,” he patted himself down. “ _Sorry. It must have broken._ ”

“Dr Geiszler,” the father interrupted them, staring at them with wide eyes.

“Safe,” she frowned at him, pushing her son behind her. “You promise. Trade son yours safe. Son mine safe.”

“Um,” Lizard-Small-Shock moved around her. “What’s going on?”

\--

Newt wasn’t having a good week: he’d risked his life Drifting with a Kaiju brain and then been told to do it again. He’d nearly been killed by a Kaiju and said Kaiju’s baby had then tried to finish the job; it was no surprise that he never even noticed his Shell fall from his dog tags and shatter on the ground.

After all of that, when Hermann had offered to Drift with him, he hadn’t even considered what he might see in the Drift, he was too overwhelmed by the thought that Hermann was willing to risk his life to help him.

They were too busy saving the world to worry about anything else immediately after the Drift, and then they were sent straight to medical to get checked out once the Breach was closed. Once they’d been cleared of any brain damage, they’d fallen asleep curled together on the hospital beds meant for Jaeger pilots.

It was a common side-effect of the Drift for the pilots to feel uncomfortable when separated after a Drift. Hermann and Newt were no different in that aspect and were more than happy to curl up together. Newt knew Hermann would have a lot of questions about what he’d seen in his head, but he trusted him not to say anything.

Of course, that secret was thoroughly let out of the bag when he was woken up by his mothers’ voice. He’d stumbled out of bed to find her stood wearing what looked to be a spare outfit of Tendo’s. He was even more confused by the way she moved in front of him as if to protect him from the new Marshall Hansen while babbling something about a trade.

“Um,” he moved around her and noticed Hermann limping to stand by his side. “What’s going on?”

The commotion must have woken the remaining Jaeger pilots, since Mako and Raleigh pushed their curtain to one side and ambled over while holding hands. They both looked around in confusion before freezing, staring at something behind the Marshall.

“Holy shit,” Newt breathed, leaning around to look. “Is that Chuck? _Mother did you save Throw-Leader-Son?_ ”

“Right,” Dr Varela spoke up from where she was stood by Chuck’s bedside. “Everybody out. I need to examine Ranger Hansen in peace. If you’re not passed out on a bed, get out. I’ll call you when I have any news.”

They shuffled out sheepishly, Tendo leading the way towards the nearest meeting room. Newt took a seat next to Hermann, pushing his chair so that they could lean against each other. His mother sat next to him while everyone else arranged themselves around the table.

“Christ, what a day,” Hansen sighed, running a hand down his face. “Dr Geiszler, would you care to explain who this woman is. Tendo found her wandering the halls naked.”

Newt groaned. “This is my mother; Monica Schwartz,” he introduced. Since merpeople were born on land, they were all given human names to go on the birth certificate; this made it easier if they chose to live on land later, or for when they had children of their own. “I broke my communicator when running from the Kaiju, she got worried when she couldn’t contact me and came to find me.”

“Right,” Hansen lifted one eyebrow doubtfully. “And she chose to do this naked?”

“She’s a naturist?” Newt offered with a weak smile. He felt Hermann roll his eyes through the Drift and turned to glare at him.

“Cut the crap, Gieszler,” Hansen advised him. “She saved my son, I’m not going to hurt her and I’m not going to report about the strange woman with scales down her spine.”

Newt stiffened in his chair.

“Scales,” Raleigh repeated. “What sort of scales? Like a Kaiju?”

“They were red,” Tendo offered with a shrug.

“Regardless,” Hansen kept his eyes on Newt. “Can you ask her how she found my son?”

Newt nodded stiffly. “ _They want to know how you found Throw-Leader-Son,_ ” he explained softly, not looking away from his mother. “ _They know about your scales, what do I tell them?_ ”

“ _I went to Deep-Wrong-Deadly,_ ” she explained, patting his arm when he sucked in a shocked breath. “ _I knew your land pod were going there and I thought I could follow them back to you_.”

“ _You could have died!”_ Newt hissed angrily, ignoring the flinch the noise caused around the table.

 _“I found Throw-Leader-Son in a white stone after a shockwave pushed me away from the Deep-Wrong-Deadly,_ ” she continued, ignoring him. “ _The stone was leaking and sinking. I managed to break a bit of it off and pull him to the surface. There was another stone floating there, so I pushed him into it and dragged it here. I told Throw-Father-Leader that I would trade his son for you._ ”

Newt blinked in shock. “ _Why?_ ”

“ _I thought you must have been discovered,_ ” she reached up to stroke his cheek. “ _You were always so careful with your Shell-Warning, I assumed you’d broken it to protect us because you’d been discovered. I wanted to trade Throw-Leader-Son for your safety._ ”

 _“And what about your safety?_ ” He whistled angrily.

“ _I am leader of pod,_ ” she smiled, revealing her sharp teeth to the pilots. “ _It’s not my job to be safe_.”

“She went to the Breach,” Newt translated with a scowl, continuing before anyone could ask any questions. “She says she got caught in a shockwave and found the escape pod when the water had settled again. The pod was leaking and sinking so she opened it and pulled Chuck out; there was an empty pod floating on the surface, so she placed him on that one and dragged it here. She had hoped to trade him for my safety.”

“There’s so much in there that I want to question,” Hansen told him honestly. “But I’ll start with the simple stuff: she kept repeating that you weren’t safe, why?”

“She thought you’d been discovered,” Hermann spoke up for the first time.

“Yeah,” Newt agreed roughly. “It didn’t occur to her that she would be outing me by coming here if I hadn’t been found out.”

“Found out what?” Tendo asked.

“Fine,” Newt took Hermann’s hand under the table and felt some of his anxiety leave him when he didn’t pull away. “This doesn’t leave this room.” He looked around the table and caught everyone’s eye. “Mermaids exist.”

There was a moment of silence before Tendo whooped and leant back in his chair with a grin. “That’s awesome!” He cheered. “Does that make you half merman?”

“I’m not getting paid enough for this,” Hansen sighed. “Can you promise they’re not a hostile force?”

“Considering they’ve been around as long as we have,” Hermann said dryly. “I think it’s safe to say that they’re happy to remain as they are now.”

Hansen nodded. “That’s good enough for me. I’m not going to report it, so it’s not my problem.”

“How are we going to explain Chuck’s survival?” Raleigh asked curiously.

“We tell everyone his escape pod deployed but was damaged,” Hansen ordered. “A fisherwoman found it and brought it here where Tendo recognized it.”

“Sure, sure,” Tendo waved a hand. “But seriously, mermaids?”

Newt couldn’t help but laugh at the excited look on his friends’ face; he’d been a little worried that Tendo would be mad at him for hiding it, but he seemed too happy with the thought of real life mythical creatures to even consider being angry.

“Mermaids,” Newt confirmed. “If there’s no one outside, you could watch her go home?”

Mako nodded quickly, causing Raleigh to laugh. “I think we’d all like to see that.”

“ _Mother,_ ” Newt smiled at her. “ _I’m safe here with my land pod, but I think it is time for you to go back to yours. Can they watch you transform back?_ ”

He translated her agreement and laughed again when Tendo rushed them out of the door. Everyone was still too busy celebrating to notice them sneaking out: the party would start winding down eventually, and when it did the mourning would begin, but for now people could be happy.

“I feel like Chuck should be here for this,” Mako said thoughtfully as they stepped outside to see the sunrise. “She saved his life.”

“We can tell him about it,” Newt offered cautiously. “If you think he’d keep it secret.”

 _“Swim with me?_ ” His mum asked. “ _It’s been so long._ ”

 _“Of course,_ ” he answered immediately. “ _You go first._ ”

She pulled him into a tight hug and gave him another Shell-Warning to replace the one he’d broken. He attached it to his dog tags and snorted at how everyone looked away when she started to undress.

“Prudes, the lot of you,” he accused with a grin. “You might want to watch this bit.”

They turned around to watch, blushing brightly at the sight of her sitting naked on the side of the landing strip. She shuddered suddenly and the red scales running down her spine pulsed before spreading down her legs. More scales spread out down her arms to allow red fins to protrude from below her elbow and she shook her head as her ear-fins came out. She grinned at them and waved before pushing off the landing strip to land in the water, disappearing under the surface.

“Wow,” Tendo breathed, finally looking away from the water. “That was amazing.”

“Hey,” Newt shivered as he unbuttoned his shirt; he’d already given his tie and glasses to Hermann. “That’s my mother you were ogling.”

“Well, she’s very attractive,” Tendo stared when he realised that he’d started stripping. “What are you doing?”

The others looked over at his question just as Newt finished the buttons on his shirt. He slipped the shirt off and purposefully turned his back on them to give his shirt to Hermann. Hermann rolled his eyes at his dramatics, but he took the shirt and folded it over his arm.

“I’m going for a swim,” Newt announced gleefully; it had been years since he’d been able to sneak out and swim in the ocean. “Look away now if you don’t want to see me naked.”

He shrugged off his pants when no one looked away and then flung himself off of the landing strip, transforming as he went. The transformation finished just after he hit the water, allowing his gills to open as he sank down to find his mum.

“ _Lizard-Small-Shock,”_ she trilled happily at him, swimming around him quickly and then shooting off.

“ _Lava-Blood-Tail,_ ” he whistled back, catching up with her and keeping pace for awhile before dropping back. “ _Deep-Wrong-Deadly is sealed. Safe.”_

 _“Safe,”_ she warbled in the distance, swimming further away from him and back to her pod.

He did a few spins underwater just because he could before swimming back to the Dome. Thankfully, the escape pod was still floating next to the landing strip, otherwise he wasn’t sure how he’d get back out of the water.

“So,” he balanced his arms onto the bags keeping the escape pod afloat and smiled when the others looked down to see him. “Who wants to get me a towel?”

“I’ll get you two towels if you let us pull you up like that,” Tendo bargained with a grin.

Newt shrugged, slipping below the water to gain momentum before pushing himself onto the pod, nearly slipping back into the water before he could get his balance. Raleigh and Hansen helped pull him up from there until he was laid on the ground next to them.

“I didn’t think that through,” Raleigh muttered, plucking at his wet t-shirt.

“You’re blue,” Hermann lowered himself to sit next to him. Newt grinned and wiggled until he could put his head in Hermann’s lap, sighing in relief once they were touching again.

“Da ba dee da ba daa,” he sang.

Unlike his mother, Newt’s scales were a shade darker than Kaiju blue, with some lighter and darker scales mixed in. His tattoos blended in amongst the scales and followed the line down his spine until they stopped at his hips and his tail began. He was always a little disappointed that his tattoos didn’t cover his scales when he transformed; it would have been cool to see the tattoos over his tail.

“Better transform back,” Hansen dropped a towel over his hips. “Last thing I need is people thinking a PPDC scientist was doing was experiments on himself.”

“If anyone would, it’s him,” Hermann drawled, watching as Newt shivered and the scales receded back. Newt could feel his fascination through the Ghost Drift and guessed that this wouldn’t be the last time he would transform in front of him.

Chuck woke up that afternoon with images of red mermaids playing in his mind. The news that Chuck had survived caused the celebration to last another day and Newt was sure that it only ended then because they’d run out of alcohol.

The PPDC were sending constant emails asking for reports, and no one dared to answer their phones, but Hansen was gleefully telling all of them that they had acted independently. Raleigh and Mako got Chuck moved into a bigger bed so that they could sleep alongside him: the three remaining Jaeger pilots recovering together.

Newt curled closer to Hermann, shifting his tail so that it wasn’t pressed on his bad hip but was instead wrapped around his knee. Hermann ran a hand down his spine with one hand and used the other to stroke the fin along his arm. Newt crooned and pushed closer; he was perfectly safe.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the inspiration for Newt's scales [here](http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Find+out+about/Animals+of+Queensland/Molluscs/Gastropods/Nudibranchs/Margined+Sea+Lizard#.WvFeZoiWTIU)
> 
> If anyone does fanart for this story, please send me a link, I would love to see it.
> 
> Tumblr: [@exhaustedcommonsense](https://exhaustedcommonsense.tumblr.com)


End file.
